Oath
by Foreteller Ava
Summary: Nobody's seen Sora since the battle against Xehanort. A cloaked figure who approaches Kairi may have the answer. Written for the Two Sides fanzine: SoKai side. [AU] [Written Pre-KH3]


Kairi frowned as she pulled out her Gummi Phone from her pocket. Five missed calls from Riku could've meant big news, and she'd missed it all for the sake of searching Arendelle over again. Then again, she had been a bit more focused on her search than normal. But the fact that they had checked almost every world and still no signs was starting to get to her.

"Good, you're alright." Riku's voice from the phone was a welcome sound. "When you didn't pick up I was starting to get worried."

"Hey Riku." Kairi gave him a smile, though it was clear to both her and him that it was a hollow one. "I just finished giving Elsa's ice castle another look. Any luck in Olympus?"

Riku shook his head. "Herc hasn't heard anything from Sora in months, and Roxas didn't have any better luck in Twilight Town." Kairi hadn't expected anything less. After Sora sacrificed himself in the Keyblade Graveyard to save Roxas, nobody had heard from him. It was true, that Xehanort and his thirteen darknesses had fallen silent at the same time, but the absence of the normally cheerful boy was uncomfortable. She missed him. "Kairi, what if we don't find Sora-"

"We will find Sora." She put her hand on her heart. Even with him gone, she could still feel that he was around, somewhere. "He's not gone, you just have to trust me, and believe in him"

"I do trust you, Kairi, and I don't want to believe Sora's gone anymore than you do. We're just running out of places to look." Riku had a point, but Kairi refused to believe it. Sora never stopped looking for them on his adventures, and she would never stop looking for him either. "I'll check back after I visit Halloweentown. Roxas called about the Heartless being especially worse than normal there, and he and Naminé are having issues."

"I'll be in Radiant Garden." Kairi hung up the Gummi Phone and threw it back in her pocket. While she considered Destiny Islands to be her home, a visit with Leon and the rest of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee never failed to cheer her up. She pressed the button on the hood of her dress, summoning her Keyblade Armor, and it wasn't long before she traveled through the Lanes Between, watching the inky blackness of space fly by as she arrived in the bright world of Radiant Garden.

Landing in the center of town, Kairi left her armor and stretched, looking around. If she was remembering correctly, Cid's house wasn't far from here, and he could easily let the others know she was here. She started in the right direction, but after a few moments, she stopped. Something felt...wrong here. Admittedly, her ability to sense darkness wasn't the best it could've been, her Princess of Heart powers did precious little in helping her find it, but when it was this strong, even she could tell that something was up. She summoned her Keyblade to her hand, looking for anything out of the ordinary in the area.

"About time you showed up princess, I was getting tired of waiting." Kairi jumped at the sound of the voice behind her and turned around, ready to slash at whoever it was that stood there. Unsurprisingly, the voice belonged to a black cloaked figure. After months of being quiet, it appeared that Xehanort had finally started to resume his plan.

"You aren't welcome here." Kairi crouched down, gripping the Keyblade tightly as she emulated Sora's fighting stance. "Go tell Xehanort that whatever he's planning, he won't take this world again."

"Actually, I'm not here for this world." The figure waved his hand, and something about his voice brought about a vague sense of familiarity. "I'm here for one reason alone, you."

"I'm not coming with you." Kairi kept calm. This was what her days training with Lea and Merlin had led up to. She wasn't going to panic at the first time there was truly a test of her training.

The figure laughed. It was humorless and cold, and sent shivers crawling down her spine, but she stood her ground. "That's funny, and here I thought I was doing you a favor. Are you saying you don't want to know what happened to Sora?"

At the mention of Sora's name, after waiting for so long, Kairi's blood ran cold. "What do you know about Sora? You know where he is?"

"Come with me, and you'll find out." The figure extended his hand to her. She knew it was a stupid risk, an unnecessary risk. But after searching for so long, the risk was worth taking. She was so desperate for answers, and here this boy was providing her with them. She tentatively reached out for his hand. The moment she touched his, he gripped her hand, almost too tightly, and with his free hand summoned a corridor of darkness. "This way."

He ran through the corridor, and she half stumbled after him, attempting to keep up. The darkness in the corridor was overwhelming and consuming, but Kairi kept moving forward. Wherever they were going, it was important. Up until she saw the destination.

Kairi felt her heart rate increase as she realized exactly where he was leading them, the dry, deserted battlefield what was the Keyblade Graveyard. "Hey, stop! I didn't agree to come here." She attempted to yank her hand free, but his grip remained tight.

"Sorry princess, but you agreed to come with me." The cloaked figure's voice held some amusement within, as though he found the fact that she so easily let herself be taken amusing. "Although, I suppose since I did promise you you'd learn about your boyfriend's fate, it's only fair I tell you." While he still didn't let go of her hand, he used his free hand to push back on his hood, and Kairi could only stare as she saw spiky brown hair paired with glowing gold eyes. "What's the matter, Kairi? Not happy to see me? I thought you were looking all over for me."

Of all the outcomes she had imagined for Sora's fate, this had been the one furthest from her mind. The one she had refused to think about. She'd imagined countless scenarios where they'd reunite, and she'd see his blue eyes, and they'd laugh and smile, maybe even kiss. But everytime she even considered this a possibility, she'd refused to acknowledge it.

"This can't be! You're not Sora, you're one of Xehanort's replicas." That had to be it. Like the dark Riku she had fought forever ago in San Fransokyo wasn't Riku, this wasn't Sora. There was no way it was.

The boy in front of her shook his head, almost as though he were disappointed in her denial. "Of course you wouldn't believe me, but like it or not Kairi, the truth is like everyone else, I'm half Xehanort."

Deep in her heart, she could feel that his words were true, even if he she didn't want to acknowledge them. Her heart was connected to Sora's even now, and she could feel it reaching out to him, even with his light buried under dark shackles. "If you're half Xehanort, then that means you're half Sora too. I know you're in there." Ceasing her attempts to pull away, Kairi took the hand he didn't hold to reach into her pocket. Though Sora had disappeared, he had left one thing behind in the Keyblade Graveyard, her lucky charm. She held the small star in her hand, watching him. "Remember this?"

She felt the grip on her wrist loosen slightly, but she made no move to get away. If the sight of the charm had broken through the darkness even just a bit, she didn't want to jeopardize that by running away. "It's your lucky charm?" Though Sora's voice mostly held confusion, as though he didn't quite understand what she was doing, Kairi thought she caught a hint of care in there, exactly what she was looking for.

"Not my lucky charm. Yours." She pulled her hand away, but grabbed his moments later, placing the charm in them like she had in Traverse Town all those years ago. "Please Sora, come back to me." Not being around him when he was saving the world was bad enough, but she'd known he was safe. These past few months without him had been a living nightmare, one she didn't want to live again.

For a moment, Sora didn't react. He seemed to simply stand there, his eyes closed as he seemed to take in what she said, and Kairi felt tears prick in her eyes. Unlike Riku, she didn't have the power of waking. If this didn't break through to him, then nothing she did would. But after another moment, she felt a hand wipe her eyes. "Hey, Kairi, it's okay. Don't cry." And she looked up and smiled.

Sora's eyes were now blue.


End file.
